As move to day 8 of my countdown we are in the cream of the crop. It kind of started yesterday, with the Nuggets starting out the top 10. But from here on out, all these teams have a shot to play the Warriors in the Finals. And by all these teams, I mean the teams in the East. The West teams are still good, possibly great, but lets not get it twisted, the Warriors are still the leaders. Lets get to it.

At number 9 I have the Indiana Pacers. Some writers have asked if last year was an anomaly, or if this is the new norm. I feel like this is the new norm for the Pacers. They have a star. They have a top 20, maybe even top 10 guy, in Victor Oladipo. He can create his own shot. He has a solid jumper. He is one of the best defenders in the league. He really came into his own last year, and all I see is his growth from here on out. He is a really, really good basketball player. He has some weapons around him too. I still think Myles Turner is going to break out. He is a true modern big man. He can protect the rim, he can rebound, he is enormous, and his jump shot is starting to fall. If he stays healthy, I feel like, second only to Brandon Ingram, he will have the biggest breakthrough. Domantas Sabonis showed those flashes that made him a lottery pick 2 years ago. While he doesn't pass like his dad, he is still a solid passer. He can also shoot the three. And, according to offseason reports, he has really bulked up, in a good way. He looks like a real threat as the third option on a perennial playoff team. I love that they got Tyreke Evans. He finally seemed to figure it out last year, and he became an instant offense guy. That is exactly what the Pacers need. Oh, and he actually tried on defense last year and he was okay. Evans was a low key great signing. They have Thad Young, and he is a perfectly capable backup big. Bojan Bogdanovic is another outside shooting threat. Darren Collison is a true point guard, and he is in a great situation for him as a player. Corey Joseph is a good backup at point guard. He has also played in many an important game. Doug McDermott is there, but he has been very blah as a pro. He has stuck around, but he has a real Jimmer Fredette feel to me. I really like Aaron Holiday as the point guard of the future. He is quick, shifty and is pass first. I loved that pick. I think this current iteration of the Pacers is going to be a headache for the East, and they will build on their success from last year. The Pacers are back.

At number 8 I have the Portland Trailblazers. This is, most likely, the last go round with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. They are a lethal, lethal back court scoring duo. They can put up tons and tons of points. Lillard is a legit super star. McCollum is a legit Robin. But, as the playoffs showed us last year, they are horrific defenders. They got owned by Jrue Holiday in the first round. They really need to work on that. But, both guys are good enough to outscore opponents, even in the West, and I think they will hover right around 50 wins. The rest of the roster is solid enough to work around their 2 stars. Evan Turner has never been the player many projected when he left college, but he is okay. He has a bit of a too high opinion of himself, and if he passed a bit more, that would be great. Meyers Leonard keeps getting in better and better shape, but he is still soft and cannot really stay on the court. He also doesn't have much of a jumper. I really like Al Faroq Aminu. He is a do it all player and I don't think he gets the credit he deserves. He is very important to this team. I'm still on the fence with Jusuf Nurkic. At times he looks great, then he looks slow and disinterested. They need him to fully engage. There was a time that he was considered more important than Nikola Jokic to the Nuggets. That guy needs to show up. Zach Collins looked like a possible bust early, but then he started to really play quality basketball. He is still super young, but he is talented, and I think he will only get better. They drafted Anfernee Simons, and while he is a project, I think a year or 2 playing behind and learning from Lillard will do him wonders. They signed both Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas for some outside shooting. Stauskas is a bust, I hate saying it because of Michigan, but he has not been a good pro. Curry is fine, but he is so often injured, you just cannot count on him. These signings were odd. And Mo Harkless is solid. The Trailblazers know what they have to do to win, and as long as Lillard and McCollum are cooking, which they are a lot, they will win 50 games as I said before.

My final team for the day, coming in at number 7, I have the Utah Jazz. I almost, almost put this team in my top 5. I love this team. I never thought that I would say that about the Jazz, but they are fun to watch. Donovan Mitchell is tremendous. He is already, very early in his career, a top 15 player, and he will soon be a top 10 guy. He is hyper athletic, can shoot, can create, plays defense and always wants to get better. He is an amazing basketball player. The Jazz got a gift when he fell to them at 13 in the draft last year. Rudy Gobert is the best defensive player in the NBA. He is nearly impossible to score on. He does pretty decent at switching. He is a tremendous rebounder. He is a great finisher. He can't shoot, but he doesn't have to. I hope he stays healthy all year. Ricky Rubio has finally found a great place to play. He isn't needed to score, he can spread the ball out and he can get under other point guard's skin. It is nice to see him having fun and playing free and loose. I didn't think Joe Ingles would be able to sustain his solid play, but he proved me very wrong. He is a great three point shooter and a very solid defender. Jae Crowder got away from Cleveland, and landing in Utah was exactly what he needed. Guys like Rubio can find him for the open three, Gobert opens the paint for him and Mitchell takes the defense's focus away from him. Thabo Sefolosha is there for his defense, and that is a good thing. Derrick Favors can still get buckets. Dante Exum, while never living up to the hype, is a serviceable back up point guard, if healthy. Alec Burks is a pure scorer. The only thing I dislike about this team is Grayson freaking Allen. That kid is a punk, and I am so mad that a team I enjoy watching drafted him. He won't play any meaning minutes, but that won't stop ESPN from talking about him. This is Donovan Mitchell's team, and that is so wonderful. The Jazz are a good and fun team to watch, and the West should be afraid of this team. They are coming and they are young and they are good.

That's it for today. Come back next week. That is the best of the best.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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